Conference 7.286::digital

    1. "Positions" were not vacated by SERP.  As I understand it, the
    organizations they left have their approved headcount reduced and
    nobody is to be rehired for a "position".  In most cases, we can't
    afford to wait for someone new to be found to do the work. 
    
    2. Consultant positions are by nature temporary.  We are not rehiring
    these people, we are giving them limited contracts.  It makes good
    business sense to use retirees for these positions.  
    
    Dick,
    
    who has been and will be again, a Consultant
    

I don't know the exact answers but, I would guess that those SERP'ed employees
that have been hired back are working on important projects which they and
only they have critical knowledge about. I would also hope that once the project
is completed their contract would not be renewed.

- George

    I have only heard of two SERP's being rehired as consultants and that
    was to transition their group's function to an outside service.
    
    Of the some 500 to 800 (?) secretaries we lost, have you tried hiring 
    a secretary today!  If they don't rehire some of them, business could
    grind7
     to snails pace. 

The Serper's positions did not go away in all cases.  I know of two that are
being refilled.  The source of bodies for these, though, could befrom positions
that were unneeded.
 

My manager's manager SERPed.  He has a 3 week consulting contract to come back
and tie up loose ends.   That doesn't sound out of line to me.

Whether a person is replaced or not depends upon the position.  If an AGM
SERPed, he obviously needs to be replaced.  It could be by promotion of
another member of the Acount Team, with the other members of the team picking
up the duties of the that member.  This would result in a net headcount
reduction.

Bob

    
    Did I hear some corporate policy before that you can't be hired back
    as contractor/consultant within certain periods (6-12 monthes) after
    you left company ?
    
    Can anyone verify this ?
    
    Otherwise, I would say lots of talents will prepare resignation letter
    now.
    
    Michael..

I've heard that the official policy is that a SERPer can't be hired back as a
consultant until they've been gone 6-12 months.  I've also heard that they can
make exceptions to this by getting a couple levels of VP approval to ok the
contract on a temporary basis.

Ok, that's not so surprising.  What it says is that they can do anything they
want, given enough support from high enough levels of management, which again 
are the normal rules of business.

What bothers me, though, is that if the "Do the right thing" attitude still
prevailed, those couple of levels of VPs would have held the SERP package for
the relevant employees until everyone was ready for them to go.  Instead, we
get multiple levels of VP approval for someone to double-dip the company: Get
the big severance, and keep getting a paycheck at the same time.

I understand why this was done, and I can even see some of the reasoning why it'd
be the path of least resistance to allow the double dipping.  It's just that it
still scores about 2 out of 10 on the "do the right thing" scale in my book.

    Read the LIVEWIRE announcement of SERP's completion - the last lines
    discuss that some SERP'd folks willl be here on a short term consultant
    basis to finish critical work.
    
    

    re.7 SERP was voluntary - how can you insure work was completed by
    people SERPing out if you didn't know who they were until they
    actually left? I think if you ask most SERPers how that would rate the
    program they would say about an 8+ on a scale 1-10.

.9:

How about:

Person X says to their boss: "I want to SERP"

Boss says, "But you're in a sensitive position here.  We can't afford to have
you leave until two months from now."

Person X says "Ok, could you hold the package for me until I'm done here?"

Boss says "Yes"

This way, everyone gets what they want.  The SERPer gets the package, and the
boss isn't left in the lurch, and the shareholders don't have to pay any double
dipping.  It'd no doubt have taken approval from high levels, but then again
so does getting hired right back on contract.  The difference is that holding
SERP would cost the company less, and wouldn't leave the impression of someone
pulling a fast one.

The package was good.  It's just that the implementation in some cases, giving
people both SERP and a temporary paycheck still rates 2 out of 10 on the "do the
right thing" scale.

    Bob Long - VP Aerospace, Electronics and Transportation
    Serp'ed out and on as a consultant until December
    

It is likely that extending the SERP deadline for some, but not all, people
could cause lawsuits from those for whom the deadline was not extended.

There might also be laws relating to this, since retirement plans are covered
under Federal laws.

    Early retirement programs must meet defined guidlines (45 days for folks
    to review the package) with definite start and end dates. If one person
    was extended the entire company would have to be extended...

    re: .10
    
>This way, everyone gets what they want.  The SERPer gets the package, and the
>boss isn't left in the lurch, and the shareholders don't have to pay any double
>dipping.
    
    I don't know about that.  If a person is on the payroll, the company
    still has to pay their salary + 40% - 50% of their salary in benefits. 
    If they come back as a consultant, the company is only responsible for
    their fee. If one of my soon to be former employees wanted to come back
    for anything greater than their annual salary paid at an hourly rate, I
    know what I'd tell them....
    
    Bob

    re .-1
    
    Gee, most of my experience is that consultants can draw significantly more
    than conventional employees in renumeration.
    
    q
    

    
>    Gee, most of my experience is that consultants can draw significantly more
>    than conventional employees in renumeration.
    
 
	What you pay in someones salary is a great deal less than what they cost
	the company, it costs approx the same amount again.

	eg, if someone is paid 25,000 quid, it costs the company 50,000 quid as
	a permanent employee.

	So you'd have to pay the contractor quite a lot of money before it was
	actually costing the company more. 

	Heather

Ahhh Gi'day...�

	     Then why would you pay them three times as much :-)

    The other thing that would be interesting is how they (the consultants)
    are handling their workman's compensation insurance, liability, etc. 
    Most bona fide consultants are incorporated and have those so that if
    they get hurt at a customer's they are covered.  As far as those who do
    come back, come on now, every one knows that it's like George Orwell's
    Animal Farm.  "All animals are equal, except some are more equal than
    others."  The politics that existed before SERP greased the skids for
    those who wanted more time to find something else, and behold there
    were consultants, and it was good.
    
    DAR

Look at the issue from a different perspective.  If someone is elligible
for the SERP, wants it, and is financally secure, why would they stay to
complete a job?  They are now a desired resource, maybe the only one.  So
they can ask for all the market will bear.  3, 4, or more times their
former wage.  It is now Digital's job to find a cost effective way to
"get the job done."  I know that if I were in the same situation, I would
want a LOT of money :-)

Lee G.

    
    .10
    >
    >How about:
    >
    >Person X says to their boss: "I want to SERP"
    >
    >Boss says, "But you're in a sensitive position here.  We can't afford
    >to have
    >you leave until two months from now."
    
    >>Person X says "Ok, could you hold the package for me until I'm done
    here?"
    >
    >Boss says "Yes"
    >
    
    Yeah Right!
    
    
    I have seen so many promises like this broken!
    
      What happens when "Joe Good Person" X's boss is replaced?
    
      How many levels of management up would one have to go to 
      get that "good fuzzy warm feeling" that this agreement wouldn't
      change when the management's needs/desires changed.
    
      Remember the management can do wat it wants, when it wants and 
      that the good 'ole Boss has managers too.
    
    

    Since everyone is speculating, let me tell you how it works.
    
    Person says "I want SERP"
    
    Boss says I need you for a few months. The deal is:
    
    The person is hired as a consultant working for a Chicago company who
    becomes his employer at the same salary DEC was paying him. The Chicago
    company withholds taxes etc. They are not independent consultants able
    to charge what ever they want. This is how two people I know were
    offerred the extension.

>    1. "Positions" were not vacated by SERP.  As I understand it, the
>    organizations they left have their approved headcount reduced and
>    nobody is to be rehired for a "position".  In most cases, we can't
>    afford to wait for someone new to be found to do the work. 

    This is one of the key problems here at DEC.  If one person becomes
    critical path, then their manager isn't doing their job.  Granted,
    one person maybe be more proficient at doing a particular task, but
    proper strategy dictates that contingencies should be in place.

>    2. Consultant positions are by nature temporary.  We are not rehiring
>    these people, we are giving them limited contracts.  It makes good
>    business sense to use retirees for these positions.  
    
    It takes NON-sense to manage as to lock oneself into a a single
    source dependency.

   -Andy   

    Regarding the comments in .14 and .16 on the additional expenses over
    salary associated with an employee.  I've heard 40%, 50% (I hear this
    one often.), and now 100%.  Can anyone break this down for us? ... in
    detail?  For example, how much goes to Unemployment Insurance, Health
    Insurance, Vacation, Holidays, and the staff that manages these
    programs.
    
    Dennis

re .22:

Speaking of critical paths, I heard that a product release has been delayed
because both of the people in SPD administration who were allowed to approve
SPDs have SERPed.

    I was just estimating but here is what I came up with.
    
    Say a person was making $50K
    
    FICA paid by individual  6.2%
    FICA paid by company     6.2%
    Medicare paid indiv      1.45%
    Medicare paid company    1.45%
    Four Weeks vacation      7.69%
    11 Holidays              4.23%
    Health ins @3000/yr      6.00%
    Retirement               1.5%
    
    Total                   34.72%
    
    There are other benefits too such as unemployment insurance, workman's
    comp, etc. but I'm not sure what those would run because they are based
    on company history.  When I worked at GM a around 1980 we figured for
    direct labor at $11/hr + $8/hr in benefits or something like that I
    would assume we would be somewhere between 35% and 75% of base salary. 

    Each person also has a telephone (say $40 per month), and occupies
    space (around $5K/yr in ZKO), and might use computers, etc etc.

RE: "If we extend SERP for one person, then we'll have to do it for
everyone"

No, not really.

The rules said that we don't hire people back on contract right after they
SERP out.  For some limited exceptions, some managers high enough up the
org chart said "Well, you're valuable enough to us for us to make an
exception to you".

In essence, the rules were bypassed for certain employees, and in such a
fashion that they didn't have to cut the same deal for everyone.

Similarly, the sufficiently high ups could have said "Well, you're valuable
enough for us to make an exception and extend SERP".

It's their company and their money, and they can ultimately do what they
want to do.  If they wanted to give someone $1M in severance pay, they
could choose to do that, and not leave themselves open to liability that
said that they have to do it for everyone.  All that's required is proof
that it was something they chose to do.

Can someone explain to me why it is double-dipping to hire individuals back as
consultants _now_ as opposed to delaying the package x months?

Thanks...

Bob

Because they get the severance pay (26 weeks) and a regular weekly paycheck
at the same time.  This is in marked contrast to someone who stays on the
payroll, but doesn't get severance benefits until they leave.

Yeah, I s'pose it works out to the same money either way, but it still has
a strong scent of "I'm taking my severance money and staying" to it.

    re -27  SERP was not extended. Some folks SERPed out then returned with
            V.P. approval (as mentioned earlier in this note). The folks
            i've seen that have returned (and there haven't been many) are
            in critical positions doing work that *no one* else in this
            company could do...

My point was that UNDER FEDERAL LAW, if we extend SERP for one person, we
might have to do it for everyone. (I don't know this; I'm speculating. I
think one person said that such plans ARE under regulations that require this.)

No one in this company can write an exception for a law.

>            in critical positions doing work that *no one* else in this
>            company could do...

	I tend to doubt this.  	Everyone is expendible.

    
    >	I tend to doubt this.  	Everyone is expendible.
    
    Especlally those who think they aren't !!!

    
    	Re: .32
    
    	You're right, everyone is expendible (even KO) in the sense that
    Digital doesn't cease to exist if they leave.  That doesn't mean the
    transition would be smooth.  Expendibility is different from saying that
    the knowledge needed to operate every position in the company is
    replicated in someone else so that if someone leaves, the other person
    could instantly fill the position and be fully productive.  (If this
    was the case, wouldn't we know where to get rid of 50% of Digital's
    employees?  ;-)  The amount of time between when the SERP decisions had
    to be submitted and when they left might not have been long enough for
    everyone to pass their knowledge on to a designated replacement.  In
    these cases (especially for the "strategic planning" or "big projects"
    kinds of positions) it would make sense to contract them back for a
    while to finish the knowledge transfer.
    
    							-craig

    I was told that the SERP office expected about 20 people to retire and
    return to Digital on the following Monday, but got 300.
    
    We have one secretary who worked for Digital last Friday and for Kelly
    (Girl - do they still use this term?) on Monday.

    	Re: .34

    Surely one person may be more proficient at a given task than another.
    This certainly can impact any transition.  However, proper planning can
    minimize the impact.  (I've seen this work!)

    Any situation which is so highly dependent upoon the knowledge of one
    individual surely illustrates a failure on the part of the next level
    of management.  Contingencies to ensure continuity should have been in
    place.  What if something unforeseen should happen to the individual?


	-Andy

    Every plan has risk.  When a particular risk (such as the most critical
    person getting hit by a truck) becomes enough lower than something else
    (such as losing funding), then the truck should be ignored and the
    funding risk dealt with instead.  Each manager must realize that he
    can't reduce ALL the risks to zero, and trying to do so would put the
    project in more jeopardy than ignoring the less likely ones. The goal
    is to make the project's risk as low as possible within the funding and
    time limits allowed.
    
    In the case of a critical person taking SERP, it was probably not
    possible for a project manager to predict that program and provide a
    backup, or trying to do so might cost too much and itself destroy the
    project.

    
    re: .37
    	Excellent point regarding the short notice of the SERP deployment.
    I can see several situations that could have required a specific 
    individual's skill. This should be another lesson for DEC regarding
    personnel changes. Maybe DEC should re-evaluate the SERP lump payment
    and add or subtract as needed.
    
    I learn something new every day,
    
    	Fred Deady
    	WBC::DEADY

>    Every plan has risk.  When a particular risk (such as the most critical
>    person getting hit by a truck) becomes enough lower than something else
>    (such as losing funding), then the truck should be ignored and the
>    funding risk dealt with instead. 

People can get sick (short or long, die without getting hit with a truck),
have family problems that need taking care of.  People also sometimes move on
to other jobs / companies.  It certainly looks like there are NO plans in
place; SERP is a good example.  However fast and sudden it came, it showed
that people are not prepared in the least for the loss of crtical team members.
Stating that the suddeness of SERP could not be planned for is not a valid
excuse, in my opinion.  Do you think anyone PLANS an accident?  No, they strike
rather suddenly and rather unexpectedly (just like SERP).

-Joe

    Re .-1

    I suppose SERP can be compared to a dozen other things that can
    effectively remove a critical employee, so in that sense it isn't
    special.  But note that SERP applied to LOTS of employees, and some
    projects got hit several times.  That does make SERP unusual.

    It is still true that covering risks, including losing a key employee,
    consumes resources: manpower, time, or money.  Whether or not the
    actual risk justifies spending additional resources is a decision that
    the management of a project should explicitly consider. It may very
    well be that covering the risk puts the project in more jeopardy than
    the risk itself.  In that case, the risk should simply be accepted.

    re: .22 and your following replies
    
    >This is one of the key problems here at DEC.  If one person becomes
    >critical path, then their manager isn't doing their job.  Granted,
    >one person maybe be more proficient at doing a particular task, but
    >proper strategy dictates that contingencies should be in place.
    
    Given the headcount restrictions we have been under for quite sometime,
    combined with the requirements that people do more and more functions,
    I disagree with your assertion that their managers aren't doing their
    job.
    
    I'm aware of several people who, 6 months ago, had one job assignment
    that was a full time job.  They now have 3 assignments that are each
    full time jobs.  I guess their manager could refuse to give them those
    assignments, but 2 of the 3 assignments involve direct customer
    contact.  Of course, they could just refuse to answer customer and
    sales reps/support questions, or refuse to provide demos for customers.
    Yeah, that's it.  We don't need customers.
    
    Bob
    

    re: .26
    
    >Each person also has a telephone (say $40 per month), and occupies
    >space (around $5K/yr in ZKO), and might use computers, etc etc.
    
    Unfortunately, these figures don't enter into the discussion of why a
    consultant should be paid more than an employee.  The consultant's
    consumption of these resources will be essentially equal to that of a
    regular employee.
    
    I wonder how many of these "actual cost for an employee" numbers
    includes figures for our huge management overhead which is also
    necessary for consultants.
    
    It seems to me that the "cost of an employee" vs. the "cost of a
    consultant" should be comparing that annual figure that we (in the US,
    anyway) get about our "total compensation" vs the hourly wage of the
    consultant.  Seems to me that my "tc" numbers have been running about
    20% or so over my gross pay.  Add to that an uplift for a consultant
    who is taking the additional risk of not working tomorrow.  Now ask, is
    the consultant worth 2x-3x more than the cost of a regular employee?
    
    -- Russ

    re.42  What are you saying? Should a consultant be worth that kind of
    money? If Digital doesn't have the expertise in a crutial area and
    there are only 3 or 4 people in the country with the expertise and they
    are all consultants - how much are they worth? 
    As far as bringing people back - If Digital moved 3700 prople off the
    books with SERP and we brought back 100 for crutial need positions -
    didn't we still net 3600 worth of expenses off the books? Isn't that
    goodness? What sense would it make to say "no SERPers can return no
    matter what" then we do a nation wide search for folks to fill those
    100 crutial positions for 6 months? 

    re: .43
    
    I am saying that we must compare apples to apples (as best we can) in
    order to make the judgement.  Saying "employees cost twice their annual
    salary, so a consultant should be worth twice as much in straight
    salary" is misleading unless the 100% overhead figure includes NO costs
    which also are incurred by the presence of the contractor.
    
    Personally, I can't say whether a consultant is _ALWAYS_ worth 2x or 3x
    an employee's salary.  That's a business decision which must be made by
    examining _REAL_ facts and figures, not by comparing apples to oranges.
    
    -- Russ

    re .44  I agree with you, but it seems we have quite a few in these
    notes that don't. People seem to be so worried in this company about
    someone else getting something they are not and it never use to be like
    this here. I feel like I'm working for a union these days...

.43

Definitely a good point.  The trouble is that we're left to speculate as to who
the recipients are.

From where I sit, I've only seen one instance of someone getting hired back as
a consultant, and it was a person at a relatively high level.  I would not like
to think that the only people indispensible enough to qualify for this special
treatment are "higher ups", as that'd lead to an impression of preferential
treatment for those in higher levels of management.

And, as for the consultant's salary:  Yes, normally consultants charge more than
employees, and a whole lot of that is due to their added costs of doing business,
most notably in the areas of double FICA and self-insurance.

Of course, someone who's SERPed is getting insurance from the retirement package,
which means that they have one less expense than the average contractor, and a
significant one at that.  To SERP and hire back as a consultant may have the
effect of giving one a higher salary while at the same time, transfering an
expense (medical benefits) that was previously borne by the cost center, over to
the pension plan/retirement benefit.

Now, for me to feel good about these "rehires", I'd like to believe a few 
things:

1) That the determination of whether someone was indispensable enough was based
mainly on their actual importance, and not just their relative position on the
org chart.
2) That the contract they're brought back under is of truely temporary nature,
with a clear endpoint in sight.
3) That alternative approaches were considered, but rejected, and rejected only
because they'd have cost the company more or been unimplementable.

In other words, I don't want to be left with the impression that this is just
another benefit for those high on the org chart.

    re.46
           The ones highest on the org chart were exempt from SERP. Seems
    to me if the plan was to take care of the ones high on the org chart
    they wouldn't have exempted themselfs...

    re .46:
>From where I sit, I've only seen one instance of someone getting hired back as
>a consultant, and it was a person at a relatively high level. 
    
    I don't know the particulars of the case you are referring to, but I
    know who that must be.  Speculating purely on the position of that
    person, I think that having that person back as a contractor for the
    purpose of smoothing over the transition was absolutely essential for a
    critical software project.  This is not to imply that the same might
    not apply in the case of an engineer.
    
    Meanwhile, I lost my operations manager, and guess who gets to pick up
    the slack?  I almost cancelled my vacation.
    
    --Simon
    

	Example, someone on 30,000 quid, the extras that are paid:

	no days in a year, 365, less 52x2 weekends = 261 days.
	
	bank holidays     8
	leave		  26 + 3 floating
	training	  14
	average sick	  5
			-------
			  56

	30,000 divided by 261 , for 56 days = 6440

	days not worked  6,440
	12.5% pension    3,900
	12.5% NI	 3,900   (It may be 14%, can't quite remember)
	car		 5,000
	2 courses	 2,000
	medical		   150
			-------
			21,390

	There is then the personnel overhead, updates to 14 databases that need
	to be done for permanent employees-thats quite a lot of admin overhead,
	payroll and PAYE, producing P60's, P11D's, payslips...................
	the 15% if they contribute to ESSP......

	Thats a quick run-through, I expect I've missed some stuff too.
	
	Heather

    re .49
    
    The company pays for your personal car there?  WOW! In the States we
    have one more federal holiday (probably July 4th, ;-)) also I believe
    that our retirement is only 1.5% of base salary.  I doubt that we
    average 26 days vacation or does that include sick time?  Our social
    security is like 7.6% paid by the employee and 7.6% paid by company.  I
    don't think we get as many freebies here.
    
    DAR

    re: .49
    
    In the US, there is still admin overhead for the contractors,
    including additional overhead for contract negotiation, review, and
    compliance.  I don't know if the contractors submit invoices for their
    time (I think so, but I'm not certain), but that could add significant
    admin overhead (more so than payroll which can be highly automated).
    
    Also consider OVERTIME!  I worked on a project with over 50%
    contract workers.  When the project leader said, "we need to meet this
    deadline", the contract workers shrugged while the regular workers
    groaned.  Why?  Because they got paid overtime while we worked extra
    hours for no additional pay.  THAT adds up QUICKLY!
    
    -- Russ

    
>      I don't think we get as many freebies here.
    
	Free? You misunderstand, I was listing the companies contributions in 
	addition to salary so the actual cost of employing someone could be
	evaluated, this does not mean that we don't contribute too!
	
	we also pay NI (about 5%), we pay towards the pension(3-5.5%), and 
	we pay for the car (4,000 pounds a year - approx 7250 dollars for a 
	basic car - more if you want something decent).
	I also pay towards Digitals medical for myself and husband - 275 pounds
 	a year, and tax is 25-40%.

	Heather

    
>    In the US, there is still admin overhead for the contractors,
>    including additional overhead for contract negotiation, review, and
>    compliance.  I don't know if the contractors submit invoices for their
>    time (I think so, but I'm not certain), but that could add significant
>    admin overhead (more so than payroll which can be highly automated).
 
	The admin in the UK has been drastically reduced by the introduction 
	of a preferred suppliers list of 10 agencies.
	Contractors work through the agencies.
	Agencies submit a monthly bill
	Digital pays the agency.
	There is a standard agreement on markups that all agengies have to 
	stick to.

	Its the agency that takes the admin hit, and the internal admin systems
	that gain.

	This could turn into a major rathole - suffice to say, there is a
	significant admin gain, not loss , when people contract.

	Heather

    I cannot speak for other offices/regions, but I can understand why the
    original noter (.0) brought this up.  In this three-office area, I know
    of at least 5 people who SERPed and immediately returned as consultants
    or temps -- 3 secretaries, one Services selling manager, and one other
    person whose job is unknown to me.  On the other hand, in a regional
    group in Digital Services, there used to be two individuals who handled
    coordination of DECmove for the entire region.  Now there are none;
    they both SERPed, their jobs are open for replacement (among others in
    their group who SERPed...), but it will take time to replace and train. 
    Meanwhile, we have no DECmove people.  Why?  Because a DEC VP felt that
    there should have been a transition plan in place for these people. 
    How?  The manager was not allowed to post a requisition until the
    people had actually SERPed, because, of course, they had the option to
    back out at the last minute.  Why can secretaries consult (and I know how
    important secretaries are...I *am* one...), but critical people like
    the DECmove Coordinator (without whom we can generate absolutely *no*
    revenue for the product line) cannot?  (flame on, and on, and on!)
    
    Just another typical day at the office!
    

    re .54 > Meanwhile, we have no DECmove people. Why? Because a V.P. at
   > DEC felt that there should have been a transition plan in place for
   > these people.
    
        Every manager that was facing a potential impact with SERP was told
    to put a transition plan in place -  just in case - for worse case,
    even if the plan was to simply bring back folks for a short period of
    time to complete/transition the work.

I'm posting this because of the tag line, "Please share this information
across your organization."  Numerous forwards have been deleted.

From:	NAME: RUSS JOHNSON                  
	FUNC: US STAFFING & PLANNING          
	TEL: 223-9282                         <JOHNSON.RUSS AT A1 at ICS at PKO>
Date:	10-Jun-1992
Posted-date: 10-Jun-1992
Precedence: 0
Subject: SERP RETIREES--USE AS EXTERNAL CONTRACTORS & CONSULTANTS               1
To:     See Below
CC:     See Below



There have been some inquiries regarding the number of SERP retirees 
who've returned as external contractors and consultants.  The 
following will provide you with data, current as of June 6, noting the 
number of retirees who've returned and the duration of their 
assignments:

SERP Returnees				Total		Duration of
							Assignment

A. External Contract Human Resources
		          Processed 	 73		60 days
		   	  In Process	100

B. Consultants				 25		Under 6
							months

C. DEC Temps		                  5    		60 days

					203

Within the External Contract Human Resources category, the vast 
majority of SERP retirees who've returned are sales representatives 
and sales executives.  These individuals are on short term assignments 
(60 days), working on revenue opportunities and closing business for 
this fiscal year.  This contingency plan was developed several weeks 
ago.  Of the 173 SERP retirees who'll return as external contractors, 
approximately 30 have returned in secretarial positions.  SERP 
retirees who returned as external contractors required the approval of 
the organization Vice President and PMT member.

All consulting agreements required the approval of the organization 
Vice President and Dick Farrahar.  25 of these have been approved to 
date. These agreements focus on unique skills and business 
requirements.

We have used the DEC Temp category where the returning retiree was 
engaged in work which required a more direct employment relationship 
with the company.  Examples would be government work which requires 
security clearance.  All of these requests were reviewed and approved 
within the Law Department. 

Please share this information across your organization.  This 
information has also been shared with the Executive Committee, 
Strategy Committee, and PMT.  Should you have questions, please 
contact me.

To Distribution List:

<deleted>

    Hmmm...just curious...
    What happens if a person SERPS,comes back on a temporary basis to
    finish up some important stuff and ends up being hurt in some way so 
    they hhave to go on disability? Does DEC have you sign something to
    absolve them or is this some sort of loophole?
    
    Ken

    Re : .57
    
    If you are SERPed, you are no longer cover under full time employee
    benefit I assume, unless it's extented for 3-6 month periods based
    on each individual.
    
    Back for temporary work, even as short as a week, you will sign a
    contract with DEC, which has description cover disability stuff.
    
    Otherwise, I'm afraid you have to buy your own disability insurance.
    
    	
    Michael..

     With the number of SERP takers who remained as contractors for a while,
and those who frequently come in to visit, it might be reasonable to change
the S.E.R.P. program name to the T.S.R. (for the non-computer-hip: "Terminate 
and Stay Resident") program.

                                    Greg
               (who is happy to see his SERP'ed friends so often)

    A TSR vanishes when you shut the power off.  
    
    As a SERPer who came back for four weeks to dismantle the telephone
    PBX and data networks in APO, I challenge the noters who spoke out
    against the policy to come up with a better plan.  I had worked here
    at APO since 1986.  I had built the present telecom plant, who would 
    be a better choice to tear it down.
    
    I read lots of greed, jealousy and plain `mean spiritedness' between 
    the lines of some of the previous replies.  Live and let live, for 
    crying out loud!
    
    The power is being shut off permanently in APO on 6/26.  I would gladly 
    take another contract job with DEC - 40 or 20 hours a week, but I doubt 
    if there are many.  (phone no. posted above, just in case) :-)
    
    Goodbye,
    
    Pete

    I too will be leaving tomorrow after DECUS had retained me to work 20
    hours per week for DECUS. (They have there own budget) but because we
    are DEC employees working on the DECUS staff in a DEC plant my manager
    was told to get rid of me because there was too many complaints from
    somewhere. I had  signed a years contract with DECUS but it was all
    in vain. Wonder if I qualify for Unemployment? I did work a month for
    the User Society. Oh well it was a pain to come in for 4 hours a day.
    Now DECUS (and DEC) has to hire a contract 8 hours to do 3-4 hours of
    work. Hope it works out. If they call me in 6 months, it will cost them
    more. :-) Good by AGAIN.

    Signed a years contract - is there a breech of contract here?
    
    UMMMM
    
    -sandy